hankyoreh

Myung Tae-kyun appears at the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office in the South Gyeongsang Province city on Nov. 8, 2024, for questioning in relation to alleged meddling in nominations for elected office and illegal polling. (Kim Bong-gyu/Hankyoreh)

Myung Tae-kyun, who was questioned by prosecutors at the Changwon District Prosecutors’ Office and has a warrant for his arrest pending, admitted during questioning that he had accepted money from Kim Keon-hee, the first lady. This makes an additional prosecutorial investigation regarding the source and nature of this payment inevitable. 

Myung has asserted that he received money to cover travel expenses but doesn’t remember the amount. But Kang Hye-kyeong, who was the chief accountant of former lawmaker Kim Young-sun, and Kim Tae-yeol, the former director of the Future Korea Research Institute, have both said that the amount in the “money envelope” that Kim Keon-hee handed over was 5 million won (US$3,550).

If this money was not for transportation expenses but money to encourage or compensate for Myung’s contribution, via polling activities, to the political objectives of President Yoon Suk-yeol and the first lady during the presidential election, then that means that Yoon and Kim Keon-hee were aware of the polling services that Myung has said he offered. If the 81 polls Myung conducted when Yoon was a presidential candidate occurred without remuneration, it could constitute a violation of the Political Funds Act. 

During a press conference on Thursday, Yoon said, “I’ve never told Myung Tae-kyun to conduct a poll. And Myung and party members simply told me countless times during the election cycle to be aware that a poll was announced or going to be announced the next day.” 

Yoon asserted that he had nothing to do with the motive for Myung carrying out his polling activities. 

Yet after compiling statements from figures in Myung's vicinity, the picture that comes into focus is that Myung was intent on being financially compensated for his polls by the first lady. In audio recordings of phone conversations that Kim Young-sun and Kang Hye-kyeong had on May 23 of last year, Kang tells Kim: “The director [Myung] told me he was going to ‘get paid by Kim Keon-hee’ and told me to draft an invoice. He told me to draft a receipt that covered things like ‘the cost of conducting the polls and my fee,’ so I wrote up the invoice. He said, ‘I’m going to get the money. I’m going to get it’ before heading off to Seoul.” 

In a press interview last month, Kang said, “He [Myung] got it [the money envelope] from Kim Keon-hee. But didn’t get the payment for the poll.” Kang’s comments suggest that the 5 million won contained in the envelope was not even close to covering the cost of the polls. 

In a National Assembly audit on Oct. 21, Kang said, “Myung, in exchange for conducting the polls, got Kim [Young-sun] a party nomination.” The money that Kim Keon-hee gave could be evidence regarding Myung conducting free polls for Yoon and allegations that Yoon interfered in party nominations. 

The Hankyoreh obtained the eight-page request for an arrest warrant for Myung. The claim states several times that Myung boasted about his friendly relations with Yoon and the first lady. 

According to the warrant request, it’s been “confirmed that he [Myung] received a large sum of money from businessmen who wanted five-term lawmaker Kim Young-sun to receive the nomination.”

Myung also “increasingly bragged about his friendly relations with Yoon and the first lady and their inner circle as soon as Yoon was elected,” the claim continues. 

The prosecutors emphasized the gravity of the suspected offenses in question and the potential for Myung to destroy evidence or flee to justify the need for an arrest warrant.

By Jeong Hye-min, staff reporter; Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter; Kim Wan, staff reporter; Kwak Jin-san, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]